


Sacred, Silence and Sleep

by MagnaAlmaMater



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Compliant, Child Abuse, Dubious Consent, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Multi, Non-Linear Narrative, Unfulfilled Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-08-20 19:23:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20233084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagnaAlmaMater/pseuds/MagnaAlmaMater
Summary: "Snakes living in captivity, hunt even slower than the ones in the wilderness.”says the man as he opens one of the cages.“If you want to see them in action, you have to throw the prey directly on them."An anthology of Sasuke getting naked for various people.





	1. Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a series of short fics supporting the Sasuke-centric multichapter, but my short Itachi cameo ended up being more like a slice of life epic and my Hashimada ideas don’t fit the theme. So whatever. I present you another confusing multichapter nonlinear narrative by me.  
Let's see where this roller coaster takes me. Tags, ships and warnings will be added according to their appearance if I manage to add another chapters.  
The plan is to drag it to the Boruto era.  
Orochimaru/Sasuke is the endgame. Sasuke/Naruto will probably stay unfulfilled for angst reasons. Guest starring Hashirama/Madara.  


**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Snakes living in captivity, hunt even slower than the ones in the wilderness.”_ says the man as he opens one of the cages.  
_“If you want to see them in action, you have to throw the prey directly on them."_

ONE

He thinks he was never meant to be his own person.  
He was supposed to be someone defined by the other's choices, expectations and ideas. The truth is, his mother expected, he was going to be a girl, but his brother stated he wished for a brother and he didn’t allow other options. So he was born male, although, he thinks, he could as well be supposed to be a woman before his brother’s interference.  
<strike>His face is an exact copy of his mother's, girly, full in cheeks, lacking the typical sharpness and sunken eyes of Uchiha men and his father always looked a little bit disappointed when someone pointed that out.</strike>  
It would be the first time Itachi decided his fate for him, but certainly not the last one.

Contrary to him, Itachi was always so much in control of everything, Sasuke would believe the man was self-conceived too.

Perhaps it would be better for everyone, if he was born a woman.  
His mother would get the toy she wanted. He wouldn’t leave her as his brother did.  
His father would be proud of him for not being as good as Itachi. <strike>He was good. He always knew he was good. Just not good _enough_.</strike> His place would be defined and definite.

Perhaps if he was born useless and unimportant, Itachi would make other choices too.

It would be better than this counterproductive race where there are no living winners. He’s not foolish anymore, he knows the man he called brother just set him to chase of his death.  
He lives only to avenge his clan, because without it he’s nothing. Everything he knew, his life and identity were gone and at the age of six he was left with nothing but people's eyes looking at him with pity or accusation. He's a vanishing hereditary line. <strike>He lives because he wasn’t good enough to be killed.</strike>

He doesn’t expect to live past Itachi anymore. There is nothing past Itachi. He’s too powerful to be simply killed by ordinary powers and whoever made the rules of mangekyo was sick enough to make sure it requires sacrifices too high for Konoha to accept.<strike> He wonders what would Kakashi’s face look like when he’d realize that the filthy blonde idiot, that irritating fool, his golden boy, was killed because he insisted on that idiocy of teamwork. He knew exactly why wanted to keep his distance But it was too late now.  
</strike> It doesn’t matter how dangerous and wanted criminal his brother is, the fratricide won’t justify the means and he won’t be forgiven.

When he hears Orochimaru’s idea of a deal, it's an easy decision.

It’s not like the price is that high anyway.

On his first week in the base in the land of Sound Orochimaru orders him to strip before him and Kabuto. He does it without hesitation, <strike>because he doesn't really have a choice there</strike>. He can't show any sign of weakness before these men and it's not the first medical inspection he goes through. (He still doesn't like it at all.)  
His new teacher watches him in silence and an occasional tilt of his head, as he stands there, while the medic cements his body openly like Sasuke isn’t there and can’t hear him.

“He looks a little underfed but it's nothing a protein based diet couldn't fix. Fortunately, he awakened the sharingan quite late, about a year ago.”  
Kabuto’s grin is fake as always and his eyes full of spite. He has already made clear that he considers him to be weak, spoiled and unruly child, and Sasuke thinks he may as well behave like one.

He hates the man.  
He knows the man hates him too and he’s not exactly sure why because if it has something to do with Orochimaru’s eyes on him, the only one allowed to be angry is he himself.  
And he’s angry.  
He’s so incredibly angry, his fingers tremble and he thinks could explode at any moment. It’s ironic, because the everyone always insists that anger is what’s going to help him to become more powerful, but it seems like it’s only making him feel powerless. The tears are pricking his eyes and the scream buried in his lungs takes all the air from him.

Orochimaru and Kabuto's eyes are cruel. They look at him like they want to see all through him, but they gaze had a total absence of seeing something at least distantly similar to a human being. They both piss him off so much, he wants to scream and tell them where exactly the medic can show his offhand comments, except he finds out it’s hard to yell at two adult men when he is naked and half of their size. <strike>He's frightened.</strike> He hates being reminded the reality of his own size. Of his body and weakness. <strike>It’s the same like in that hall with his brother.</strike> It seems like he can’t go far with a constant reminder that he is still a child. <strike>Useless and in a complete mercy of men watching him.</strike>

He stays silent.

“I have a theory based on medical records and observations of similar mutations,” although the man still looks at him, he speaks only to Orochimaru and Sasuke wishes he really wasn't there. “I believe an early use of the sharingan exhausts the body. Or perhaps just Uchihas tend to be shorter.”  
The sannin looks at him from head to toe and it feels like he's touching him all over his body and he wishes nothing more but to cover himself.  
"That would be a pity."  
  
Just like that, the decision is made. Perpetual use of the sword will help to built him for agility and strength. He has a great potential for sparring, Orochimaru says, and he has to agree it seems reasonable, although he can't recall any Uchiha actively using a sword. He despises the snake and his attitude with a burning passion but he is old and experienced.  
He nods, although he doubts anyone is waiting for his confirmation.

<strike>That night he cries himself to sleep without really knowing why. In the morning he cries again, but this time from anger mostly. That stays with him for a few months.</strike>

There isn’t much Orochimaru can teach him about Sasuke's own clan’s customs, but his guidance is still valuable. He fought both with and against Uchihas and he is undeniably a good at understanding the human body and mind.

When he wants to, he is also a good teacher.

“You think too much,” says the man with a hint of boredom in his voice. “Don't force your mind to remember, it will never do so. Let your muscles do it for you.”  
He suppresses a frustrated growl.  
They have been stuck there for at least an hour and there was no progress at all. Sasuke was way too young to receive a full combat training before their clan got wiped and the little specific training he did get, came mostly from games and copying his brother's morning katas. His clan was taken away from him in more sense than just physically. He would never get over three basic forms, which were the same as the classic ninjutsu training for kids in academy anyway.

One. Two. Three.  
The stance was wrong. He adjusted his arm and his shoulder blades clenched on their own. Three.  
He returns to the initial position, three steps back, all of them perfectly mirroring the previous movement toward.  
One. Two. Three. Again, he is stuck. There is no way, he could recall memories which doesn’t exist.  
“This is useless!” he spits out at Orochimaru but he just raises an eyebrow.  
“Patience, Sasuke, is the second greatest virtue. The first one is actually listening to your teacher. I said relax, and let your body act for you.”

One. Two. Three. He’s almost shaking from frustration.  
Three. Two. One. Back again.

“_Breath_.”  
He wants to tell the man he is no idiot, of course he knows he has to breath but then he understands.  
Breath as a child would.  
He repeats the stances, exaggeratedly exhaling at every step.  
One. Two. Three.  
His steps are heavier than they should be. Their echo sounds in the dojo.

_"Your father works hard,"_ said his mother once when he was complaining about some triviality being impossible. He could be four by that time, perhaps five and it was one of the many memories of her cooking, back turned to him._ "Your brother works hard. I, myself, work hard too. Do you want to be the only one in our family who doesn't?"_ She made him repeat his failures over and over, although he was sobbing from anger and thinking about throwing the nearest toy across the room.  
_"Do we want too much from you?"_  
<strike>He didn't understand back then that the drill is to compensate for the lack of talent. He only knew he could never be as good as Itachi.</strike>

Back again.  
One. Two. Three.  
This time his arm goes up without even thinking about it. He freezes. If he was fighting someone taller, that's where the opponent's eyes would be.  
But the fist is wrong. He opens his palm and arranges it to a position where it would blind the enemy or at least made him retreat, to protect their most precious possession. Four.  
This kata was obviously meant fight another Uchiha. He distantly wonders why they would need it.<strike> Itachi stripped him of so many things.</strike>  
There was a step to the left.  
He tries to move forward like in the classic kata but it doesn't work. He has to step back.  
One. Two. Three.  
Four.  
His right leg goes behind and his other hand automatically goes up, like it wants to parry an invisible attack but even before he consciously moves the arm to cover his peripheral vision, he already knows it's no physical attack he is trying to avert.  
Five. The leg goes forward again and this time his body rotates. The head should be still. Shoulders kept straight. He almost feels invisible hands pushing him down in the knees and leading him through the turn.  
_Just imagine you have a cup of water on your head, Sasuke._  
It's very much like _a dance_.  
His arms select the field of the vision for him and this way he gets on the side of the enemy without making eye contact. But then he freezes and can't go any further. Something is missing.  
Five. There should be twelve stansas.  
He doesn't know if he was never shown the offensive moves or if he simply doesn't remember.

There is something crawling back in his head and he realises he is holding his breath. Suddenly he is aware of Orochimaru’s eyes on him. The trance state, he unknowingly induced, disappears and he at first he wonders if he has just revealed some of the clan's secrets, but then he realizes the situation is far more simple than that.

He knows that look. He has seen it countless times.

His teacher is not looking down on him anymore, this time it's something more dark and hungry. The gaze follows the lines of Sasuke's body and he would have to be blind not to understand what the sannin wants. <strike>It's terrifying.</strike> Is the same thing people generally want from him. Although the previous audience he had during his training sessions was usually decent enough not to lick their lips at the sight of him shirtless. <strike>He doesn't understand what exactly is desirable on a sweating kid with scruffy knees. </strike>

_"So Uchihas are trully good in setting fires,"_ laughed some nameless bandit back then on a mission, when he dodged his hōsenka. _"Not only the ones in your loins."_  
It made Sakura freeze in mortification. <strike>Like she was better than the man anyway.</strike>

It's disgusting. Dehumanising.

<strike>This time Kakashi is nowhere around to cut the man's neck.</strike> He is alone with Orochimaru's eyes on him and it makes his stomach fold over itself in dread. He almost gags.

He lets his hands fall down to his sides and with ease, which shouldn't be there after so many years, he brings his legs back together to the normal posture and excuses himself.  
The man says nothing as he leaves and he is happy for that. 

Of course he was aware of the extent of snake's obsession with young men. The sannin is no modest person and shinobis are just soldiers after all. No one gives a fuck what some orphan overhears.  
Orochimaru made his intentions quite clear already in the Forest of Death and even at the age of thirteen, Sasuke was well aware he'll have to give his teacher everything his body has to offer.  
<strike>He just hoped it won't be anytime soon.</strike>

Later he decides, his last shreds of dignity don't matter as the sannin is far more agreeable when he allows him to look. It's all an exchange and he figures out he has things to trade. He wonders how much authority over the man can he gain by simply taking off his clothes and finds out it's so effective, it would be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic.  
Does he want the lesson last longer? Shirt off. Does he need to compel the man into explaining some more difficult jutsu, chakra manipulation or even temple secrets? Shirt off.

He can't believe he once thought the man wise.

How terribly indecent. 

"Remember, everything you do here," says Orochimaru during one of the earliest lessons, "Is your choice. You came here, because you wanted and if you ever feel the need to leave, there is hardly anyone stopping you. That's if you have any place to return."

Since a simple open shirt can bring him much privilege under snake's rule, he leaves his clan's colors behind for Orochimaru’s ones. 

Orochimaru’s words echoes in his mind often these days.

"It's our little arrangement - you obey and you get to learn. You are not unwilling."

If anyone asked him, he would reply it is only a matter of practicality, since he never knows when he will have to fight. Orochimaru and his accomplices have a tendency to keep him alert all the time and it is annoying to replace his shirt every time he triggers the second stage of the cursed seal. 

Or rather he wouldn’t answer at all.

However creepy training with Orochimaru is, Sasuke still finds it preferable to medical inspections.

“There are rumors about the Uchiha's illness. Did master Orochimaru tell you about it?”  
Sasuke rolls his eyes and doesn't bother to answer. Actually, as he noticed, hardly anyone in this hideout bothers to answer Kabuto. His ability to annoy people only enhanced with time and now it seems that even Orochimaru treats his presence as an unpleasant necessity.  
“It seems like Uchiha Itachi is ill too.” He doesn't even seem to notice Sasuke's silent but obvious distaste for him. Or perhaps he just ignores it because it's the only way for him to be able to speak with people in general. He's a truly disgusting person.  
“It may be very convenient for you, of course, if he's weakened. I only wonder whether it's something he unfortunately obtained during his life in exile or of it's really a heritable disposition.”

When Kabuto speaks, it's better not to pay attention. He lies and twists the words just to see if he can get under other people's skin. Like needles and scalpels are not enough. He's a man of no honor and he tends to treat his superiors as his equals.  
“Any information about the Uchiha genealogy is very hard to get, of course, Itachi made sure to put many of the records on fire that night. But enlighten me, Sasuke-kun, is it possible that your mother was the youngest sister of Uchiha Teyaki, making her Fugaku’s direct cousin? It's not illegal, of course, very reasonable from the political point of view too. I only wonder if generations of inbreeding could manifest not only as geniality but also as a terminal genetic disease.”

It's not the first time he hears someone pick up on it. It's annoying how people insist that some old ways must die but others continue to be practiced and glorified for their traditional values. He's not stupid, he knows why Uchihas never trusted anyone. They had only good reasons for that.

_"Why wouldn't they fuck each other?"_ said some civilian and perhaps he thought Sasuke too young or retarded to understand. But most probably he just didn't care.  
_"I mean, damn if I could fuck an Uchiha, I would fuck an Uchiha. Moral bounds and bullshit aside, I would fuck him even if he was my brother."_

It's something he came to understand. Even before he joined Orochimaru. They all want to kill him. Some of them just want to fuck him first.  
This place is nothing new.

“I would appreciate some blood samples." the medic continues, but he's already leaving.  
"Perhaps an eye swap. I don't expect any groundbreaking results, but we should rule out any possible cause, common one or not.”

He never says it, but Sasuke can read the words in his expression every time he raises the subject  
It's not the first time he sees it anyway.

_Incestuous freaks._

They move between hideouts a lot. Soon he notices Orochimaru seems to favor great halls with open spaces, although underground. They are too dark and damp for Sasuke’s liking. He feels like he’s going to rot in them and his wounds have a tendency to ooze from the absence of light and ever present humidity. He supposes that’s how the snake got his bloodless pallid skin in the first place.

There is less and less people too. At least living ones.

At least the places are almost clinically clean. Orochimaru wouldn’t allow any dirt to sabotage his experiments and Kabuto often smells of disinfection. The man’s surprising tidiness reminds Sasuke his father.

<strike>He remembers how he envied Naruto’s dirty clothes and messy hair. His father would never allow him to be scruffy like that. He tried to mess up his clothes once after he started living alone but it distressed him. He kept the remains of his clan’s position, the dignity along with the binding and humiliating absence of dirt. Unimaginative cleanliness.</strike>

<strike>Naruto seemed to be so happy in old clothes with more patches than intact fabric.</strike>

<strike>He punched him when the idiot threw him face down into the mud.</strike>  
<strike> He punched him as hard as grateful he felt for getting dragged through the dirt, for someone finally breaking the sterile, suffocating order for him.</strike>

<strike>Naruto-</strike>

"Snakes living in captivity, hunt even slower than the ones in the wilderness.” says the sannin as he opens one of the cages. “If you want to see them in action, you have to throw the prey directly on them."  
Sasuke learned not to be uncomfortable during feeding of the snakes quite quickly. He thinks every living being has to eat something, so it’s not their fault the whole spectacle may seem a little bit cruel. It’s just Orochimaru’s attitude about it what makes it creepy.  
"Every animal starts to rely on the human feeding them after not having to hunt for a long time,” he answers, making sure he sounds unimpressed as the snake wraps itself around a rabbit. He’s a bit grateful this animal decided to die silently and doesn’t scream. “If one keeps providing food to their pet, it becomes lazy."  
Orochimaru smiles, "Is it really laziness? Or simply an inability to actually hunt in the cage?"

The minutes go by and he concludes the rabbit was actually a lucky one. It seems like he suffocated before the snake started devouring him. Of course, the best would be if its neck just snapped, but the way Orochimaru feeds his snakes prevents them from being able to aim properly. Snakes are supposed to be catching their prey from its back not not midair.

He hands his teacher another rabbit, distantly noticing it’s a purely white one. <strike>It reminds him of someone.</strike>

The snake's jowl convulses and the last part of the rabbit disappears into his red insides. It watches Sasuke as he swallows again and although he knows it's not venomous species, the motion of red wet insides of the snake's mouth was once enough to make him retreat to a safe distance. Then Orochimaru made him push himself to the point where his reaction time matched the snake's attack speed event without the sharingan on.

"Fascinating, isn't it?"

There is an amused spark in Orochimaru’s eyes and he wonders if the man is blind to the fact the snake would devour him given a chance, or if he simply fancies pets which know no master.  
Both possibilities are foolish in his opinion. It may also be an utter bullshit, as everything about the sannin. The man is always hiding his real personality under various masks and premises and Sasuke suspects he no longer possesses a single character trait, which wouldn't be artificially constructed. He kept building his persona on lies so long, he probably got lost in it.

The animal slowly moves closer to him and Orochimaru throws another rabbit to its doom.

As for the other part of the deal, he knew from the start what was expected from him in exchange for being lucky enough to be Orochimaru’s disciple. And even if he wouldn't understand, Kabuto kept dropping hints here and there of precisely what will be required from him in addition to submitting his body for the possession. The medic was continuously trying to throw him off balance with it, like he somehow could miss the way the man looks at him. Like he didn’t already accept it these years ago when he left Konoha. <strike>Like he was the first one anyway.</strike>  
He was reconciled with the fact that Orochimaru will be the one to make his claim long time before the man was able to control his hands again.

Since then he just kept waiting.

It is almost a relief when Orochimaru finally touches him.

White fingers brush his throat and the shoulder, gently tucking his shirt aside, and pressing the edge of his collarbone just hard enough to make clear this is not just some inspection of the cursed mark on his neck whatsoever.  
It's been years and he is a child no longer. He spent years in Orochimaru’s care and although he can't bring himself to like the man or his methods, the training did achieve the desired result. He’d grown and hardened in more than one way. The previous softness of his body is almost all gone as the pliant child flesh turned into lean muscles and he had years to figure out the mechanics of the deal and convince himself to believe it wasn’t such a high price for the offered power.  
He was given time.  
He should consider himself lucky.

Still, he forces himself to be bold enough to meet his teacher's gaze with defiance.

"No."

Mostly, he simply doesn't want to submit without a fight. It would be humiliating to do so.  
What he isn't prepared for is the possibility of Orochimaru actually removing his hand and stopping any advances with that insufferable smile of his, like nothing happened. Like Sasuke didn’t just cross the only line he wasn’t supposed to cross. Like he didn’t withhold Orochimaru the only claim the man had a right to. His body isn't supposed to be his own property anymore and yet the man-

"Alright."

Sasuke's heart skips a few beats before he realizes that no strike would come, no punishment. His refusal is accepted for now. He wonders if there will be any consequences.

It's unworthy of a trained shinobi to back off from the deal. It’s like a mission and he definitely should be running away from it like a frightened child. But since Orochimaru doesn't move - He turns to leave.  
He doesn’t make it far. But he didn’t hope he would in the first place.

"I wonder-" the man's voice catches him by the door. “What are you trying to spare yourself for?”

The worst part is, he is _ right _. 

There is no reason to resist. He hasn’t much time anymore.  
Shinobi’s body is a weapon. He’s only delaying the inevitable.  
The debt will be settled if he lets him. And the sannin definitely not the last one anyway.  
<strike>It's too late. </strike>

He unties the knot on his belt.

Despite everything Sasuke expects, Orochimaru is almost decent about the way he fucks. There is no creepy tongue involved, nor a penetration. He lets him stay on the top and set his own pace. He doesn't force him to keep his eyes open and when Sasuke rejects his kisses, he doesn't press on.  
It's still disgusting because it's Orochimaru and his skin is pasty and feels gross when pressed to his own, but Sasuke figures out it could be much worse. He expected it to be more- violent. He’s still much bigger than him-  
The man seems to be interested mostly in touching his body than defiling him. He’s running fingers over his muscles like it's the first time he sees them and it's more ridiculous than scary. One of the hands sneaks near his groin. Orochimaru simply wraps his hands around their lengths and oh- So he's experienced too. Sasuke has to hold back, so he doesn't take immediately everything his body may want.

He doesn’t like it, conceptually. It’s too close, too intimate, too- sticky. He hates the smell of it.

<strike>His thighs open.</strike>

It feels _good_. He hates how good it feels. Hates that he can feel the slow, inexorable crumbling of his own control.  
They fit together, two of them. It’s funny. <strike>Frightening</strike>. He never wanted to be with someone like this. He still doesn’t want to. Especially not with this man. But it is hypnotic, the way Orochimaru’s body moves against his, and he finds himself losing himself in the rhythmic motion of their hips. Snake charming.

Hands around him are wet and the rocking of his body makes him feel lightheaded. It’s too much. His whole frame moves up and down. Forward and back.<strike> It reminds him how Itachi bounced him on knees when he was young.</strike> He pushes into man's surprisingly smooth embrace and for a moment he allows himself not to think at all and dives into it with tears bitten down somewhere back in his mind.  
He finds his release embarrassingly soon, but he rationalizes that it's better this way. In the breathless moment Orochimaru kisses his hands. <strike>He’s glad they are not shaking.</strike>

"You are perfect for me, Sasuke. Pretty little vixen."

He doesn't know how to respond to that. How could he even know?

He turns his face away.

"Just get on with it."

Only after that the man wraps his hands around Sasuke's and moves them in a frantic pace. He allows Orochimaru to control him like a rag doll. It’s better than being forced to take any initiative. It takes a while and Sasuke thinks the man is perhaps trying to prove something. He personally would be much rather done with it. He decides to concerns himself mostly with keeping some strength in his shaking tights and the hurting back which clearly intend to betray him as they are unused to this kind of exercise.  
He notes the sannin is even more ugly when he’s flushed and sweaty.  
He makes absolutely unnecessary amount of noise too.  
Sasuke would roll his eyes in annoyance if he had any energy to spare.

Then it’s over. Just like that.  
He’s allowed to retire to his own room, with sticky body fluid getting cold on his hand.  
It's transparent and weird, he doesn't know whom does it belong and he tries to think nothing about it.

With the door closed behind himself, he allows his facial muscles to relax and it releases a ragged breath and dull sound as his teeth grind together. He punches his bed covers.

He isn’t sure, why is he angry.

_It is worth it_, he repeats to himself.

_It isn't that bad and it is all worth it. _


	2. Intermezzo

> Sasuke is probably the most beautiful child Kakashi has ever seen.
> 
> It's months after he got assigned to his three brats and he has seen them basically every day since, but somehow he was too arrogant to look at them properly until the chunin exams.  
At least at Sasuke.
> 
> For someone known as the Copy Ninja, the man wielding a sharingan, a half demonic killer who, according to legend, let's nothing pass him, he manages to be blissfully ignorant.
> 
> He curses himself.
> 
> The problem isn’t the mark, any ANBU would recognize the cursed seal everywhere, even if the Hokage wasn’t present, and the fight went quite well even without Sasuke using his sharingan. He even managed to copy that taijutsu Gai’s student previously used and the Sound genin ends up slammed to the ground. But the kid was shaking and from his posture was obvious that he's holding back pain too intense to be a result of any jutsu his opponent used or chakra drain.
> 
> Next to Kakashi, Naruto is unusually silent and Sakura is obviously nervous, biting down whatever she has to say and for a moment he wants to scold her, because he hoped they are behind this stage, but then he connects the dots.
> 
> He just thought Anko only had one of her hysterical breakdowns. Damn, he hoped it was just a post traumatic episode. But then the kid moved with a deadly determination and surprising speed for someone who's short body was still all round angles and chubby limbs. He landed a punch on his opponent's face, a small hand curling into a fist, with legs moving, hips shifting and proving that he’s exactly as precise and flexible as any Uchiha should be. A natural-born athlete.
> 
> (They say one could bend Uchiha’s girls in half and not think twice about it. It’s a shame really. All of them are gone now.)
> 
> And then it all fits together. It makes sense, there is something wrong, not only with Sasuke, but with the whole team.
> 
> Sakura sobs and he curses himself, because he is a fucking idiot.
> 
> It’s not just the seal, it’s the fact Sasuke is truly a beautiful child. Too pretty for his own good, as any Uchiha would be, and there are eyes too hungry to be watching a child this young.  
Anko’s case was familiar enough to anyone in Konoha. Tenzō’s not so much. But he can guess that they were always dark haired, black-eyed and pretty.  
The realization what may have happened in that damn forest turns his stomach.  
Kakashi never understood how could Orochimaru get away with so much shit just because he was Sarutobi’s favorite, but he guesses there is not much one can do when one of the legendary sannins comes to you and says he wants your child.
> 
> And Sasuke is probably the most beautiful kid fitting the profile, Kakashi has even seen. Well, perhaps with the exception of that Zabuza's boy, but Haku was sporting a female beauty, pushing his look more to a category of an adolescent woman than a boy (and after a few cups of sake Kakashi would even swear he saw a hint of breasts on his chest) but Sasuke is different.  
He is definitely boyish and definitely childlike. Yet absolutely smiting in a way which make women pause and wish, he was their own son. It was almost surprising no one took him in after he was orphaned.  
Almost.
> 
> The Uchiha curse which came with the massacre was hard to ignore and Sasuke's features were so undoubtedly Uchiha.  
With black eyes and hair, the pale skin he's like a walking memorial. A splitting image of his lineage, although he has thin shoulders and full cheeks instead of their usual sharp figure and heart-shaped face.  
That is purely a matter of his age, of course, although, as far as Kakashi remembers, Sasuke looks nothing like Itachi in his age. His face is softer, he's a little bit thicker and his eyes seem to be, well, more alive.  
Perhaps is his judgement influenced by a close familiarity with that undeniably childlike expression he puts on when Naruto is around, but it's hard to imagine Itachi doing something as trivial as losing a temper over child dispute.  
Actually, Kakashi doubts Itachi has ever been a child.
> 
> He was always impossibly creepy, despite how obvious it was that he would grow up into a man people would beg to spit in their mouth. (Kakashi definitely would.) If the new bingo book sketches be believed, he lost that neurotic child look he was sporting back then in their ANBU years and now he's just straight up a pretty psycho with checks just a little bit round and eyes hard enough to tell a story about his ridiculous kill count in such young age.  
He should be sixteen by now. Pretty much grown up.
> 
> More creative reports go so far to claim that he's like something from legends - A spectre or deity, as pretty as merciless. Kakashi doesn't blame these poor idiots. (After all, everyone likes them a bit crazy. He just wonders how the hell they escaped alive if these were their thoughts.)
> 
> The maturity of a ninja is a difficult concept. As soon they leave the academy they are old enough to kill people so perhaps they are old enough to take a cock without anyone batting an eye too. Honestly, he himself wasn't that old too when he first experienced the mindless pleasure of an intercourse and Sasuke is no childish brat too, his eyes mature and cold, not unlike his own.  
But hells, he recalls how the Sasuke's short arm went forward with incredible speed and during that movement the boy’s clothes wrapped around his torso, making for a second clear exactly how thin and petite his body is - He was a freaking kid.
> 
> On his left side Sakura is forcing herself to remain calm, but failing and he realizes that she was aware of the situation much sooner than him.  
A poor, clever girl.
> 
> He wonders how much can she know, because he teased poor Iruka long enough about the subject, he knows for certain there definitely is no formal sex education in the academy. But perhaps women are more suspicious in this matter as they are in danger more often and sooner than their male comrades.
> 
> Just like Anko was.
> 
> It’s sickening.  
He fights an urge to stroke his neck.
> 
> He was never good with kids. He has no idea why they took him out of ANBU for this in the first place. He’s hardly a good role model or a parental figure. Maybe the fact he dealt with an Uchiha as a captain before, is why he got assigned the second one too. Sarutobi can go fuck himself with the shitty Kyuubi management explanation. No one ever knows why the man does anything and it's not going to change anytime soon.
> 
> “Did I make a mistake by letting him fight?” he asks Gai quietly and the man tilts his head.  
“Do you feel like you did?”
> 
> He doesn’t know. He honestly doesn’t. It seems like his improvisation abilities are not applicable in dealing with kids.  
“He would want to try it anyway,” he offers.  
"He knew exactly what was to come."  
He knows the man is right.
> 
> “A ninja has to know the limits of his abilities. It’s good to see him not relying on his sharingan,” he reasons his decision aloud.
> 
> Gai hums in agreement.  
“But something is still bothering you.”
> 
> He sighs, “It’s the helplessness.”
> 
> His friend’s eyes are kind as always. “Kids grown up on you.”
> 
> There were legends about Uchihas in the last war.  
Of course, nothing is forgiven in the battlefield, especially not youth, beauty and prestige. He should probably be grateful that his first introduction into the matter was, when he was already old enough to understand it, because many others weren’t.
> 
> The years of battles required throwing into the field all shinobi who were at least to some extent capable of protecting themselves. Just like Uchiha Itachi - Thrown into the middle of the war at the age of six. Surrounded by enemies and sometimes even allies, who would try to approach him, asking whether he really is an Uchiha, all pretty and helpless, because that was the only way for these pathetic men to have a chance to get their way with an Uchiha.  
Only if they managed to catch a child.  
Weak, frightened and preferably sharingan-less.
> 
> He didn’t think of it much back then since he was ridiculously young himself, but with Sasuke before him- God dammit, he just wants something a little better for him because the implications are terrific.  
Subconsciously he always wondered how great an impact could this kind of trauma have on the Uchiha heir and his slow descend into madness.
> 
> He shakes his head, "What childhood can a kid like an Uchiha can have?"  
Gai gives him one of his blight reassuring smiles.  
"Childhood-like one."
> 
> He knows that his friend’s indomitable optimism is merely a protective shell helping the man to preserve his sanity but it never stops fascinating him.
> 
> He gives him an eye. "Perhaps you should be his teacher."  
"He's not the type for close range combat,” he says seriously, “Also, I already have one with a cursed seal."  
"Right." The young Hyuga. Poor kid. "How's he doing?"  
"As for his abilities? Great. Otherwise, not so much,” he says and then smiles again. “But that can be fixed by enough time and love."  
That makes him snort.
> 
> “I can’t believe we are discussing children now.” he says as he jumps over the arena railing.  
When he carries Sasuke out of the arena, the kid so light and so small, Kakashi can support his whole body with one arm.
> 
> The face to face encounter with Orochimaru is a mess. It leaves him shaking.  
He’s a fucking coward. He’s too old to be still frightened by the snake sannin and if he can’t handle the man, what should his students do?  
(He thinks Gai would be much better for this. Gai wouldn't ever hesitate if he saw how Orochimaru looks at his student.)  
The child lays before him, a black seal practically shines on his white neck and around it a still visible bite mark, telling its story about how exactly did Orochimaru put it there.  
Kakashi curses himself once more.
> 
> The worst is that, Orochimaru is right. Sasuke is going to seek the greatest power he can and Kakashi can’t stand a chance against the sannin.  
He's fucking failure of a teacher.  
He won’t be able to protect the kid and he and Sasuke are very similar, so he tries to help him the only way he knows. Through combat.  
He doesn't tell the boy why exactly is he giving him private lessons for. It's not a conversation he wants to have with a twelve year old child, not ever. Although, from Sasuke's look he suspects the boy would hardly be surprised if he added into bees talk some hornets. He probably really always knew what’s to come.  
It's pure cowardness on his side what prevents him to tell him straight away that the jutsu is meant to kill men who wants to touch him the same sick way Orochimaru does.
> 
> He decides to teach the boy how to rip the heart out of anyone who tries to get too close to him.  
Or maybe that's a Sasuke's own misinterpretation, in any case in the following years he only regrets it.


End file.
